Pneumatic or air powered vehicles including, without limitation, toy or model air planes are known in the art. Essentially all such vehicles depend, for their power source, upon one form or another of a compressed air bottle or canister which, for purposes of re-filling, requires that the user, who is typically a pre-adolescent child, attach a pump of some kind to an intake valve of the vehicle and then reciprocate a handle of the pump while maintaining the base of the pump stable relative to the ground or floor to both efficiently effect the pumping function and to preclude potential damage to the vehicle. Certain toy or model vehicles, such as model airplanes are, due to their front and rear wing structure, particularly vulnerable to damage during the pumping function particularly when that function is performed by a child having limited coordination.
A further problem associated with the pumping or re-compression of the air bottle or canister associated with a pneumatic toy vehicle is that of overfilling or over-pressurization. In the prior art, this problem is manifested by the absence of an air gauge with pneumatic toy vehicles. A consequence thereof is often the over-pressurization of the air canister thereby creating a possibility of rupture thereof or damage of the entire pneumatic toy vehicle because the internal pressure of the air bottle has exceeded the design parameters of the system. The present invention thereby responds to the long-felt need which has existed in the art for an air pumping station for a pneumatic toy vehicle capable of controlling the physical relationship of the toy vehicle to the pump during the pumping function, providing a more stable pump suitable for use by pre-adolescent users, and providing air pressure status to the user to preclude over-pressurization of the system and air canister.